1-1 By: Delco, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Barrientos) H.B. No. 1056
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 3, 1993;
1-3 May 4, 1993, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
1-4 Justice; May 18, 1993, reported favorably by the following vote:
1-5 Yeas 6, Nays 1; May 18, 1993, sent to printer.)
1-6 COMMITTEE VOTE
1-7 Yea Nay PNV Absent
1-8 Whitmire x
1-9 Brown x
1-10 Nelson x
1-11 Sibley x
1-12 Sims x
1-13 Turner x
1-14 West x
1-15 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-16 AN ACT
1-17 relating to the creation of county jail industries programs and the
1-18 use of inmates confined in county jails for public works, public
1-19 improvements, and public maintenance projects.
1-20 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-21 SECTION 1. Chapter 351, Local Government Code, is amended by
1-22 adding Subchapter I to read as follows:
1-23 SUBCHAPTER I. COUNTY JAIL INDUSTRIES PROGRAM
1-24 Sec. 351.201. COUNTY JAIL INDUSTRIES PROGRAM. (a) A
1-25 commissioners court by order may establish a county jail industries
1-26 program. The sheriff may allow inmate participation in the county
1-27 jail industries program in carrying out his constitutional and
1-28 statutory duties.
1-29 (b) The purposes for which a county jail industries program
1-30 may be established are to:
1-31 (1) provide adequate, regular, and suitable employment
1-32 for the vocational training of inmates;
1-33 (2) reimburse the county for expenses caused by the
1-34 crimes of inmates and the cost of their confinement; or
1-35 (3) provide for the distribution of articles and
1-36 products produced under this subchapter to:
1-37 (A) offices of the county and offices of
1-38 political subdivisions located in whole or in part in the county;
1-39 and
1-40 (B) nonprofit organizations that provide
1-41 services to the general public and enhance social welfare and the
1-42 general well-being of the community.
1-43 (c) A commissioners court, in an order establishing a county
1-44 jail industries program, shall, with the approval of the sheriff:
1-45 (1) designate the county official or officials
1-46 responsible for management of the program; and
1-47 (2) designate the county official or officials
1-48 responsible for determining which inmates are allowed to
1-49 participate in a county jail industries program.
1-50 (d) An order of a commissioners court establishing a county
1-51 jail industries program, though not limited to, may provide for any
1-52 of the following:
1-53 (1) an advisory committee;
1-54 (2) the priorities under which the county jail
1-55 industries program is to be administered;
1-56 (3) procedures to determine the articles and products
1-57 to be produced under this subchapter;
1-58 (4) procedures to determine the sales price of
1-59 articles and products produced under this subchapter; and
1-60 (5) procedures for the development of specifications
1-61 for articles and products produced under this subchapter.
1-62 (e) A county jail industries program may be operated at the
1-63 county jail, workfarm, or workhouse or at any other suitable
1-64 location.
1-65 (f) An inmate does not have a right to participate in a
1-66 county jail industries program, and neither the sheriff, county
1-67 judge, or commissioners nor any other county official or employee
1-68 may be held liable for failing to provide a county jail industries
2-1 program.
2-2 Sec. 351.202. REVENUE. Money received from the operation of
2-3 a county jail industries program shall be deposited in the general
2-4 revenue fund of the county to be used as reimbursement for the cost
2-5 of inmate confinement. The cost to a county for an inmate's
2-6 participation in a county jail industries program is considered to
2-7 be a part of the cost of confinement of the inmate.
2-8 SECTION 2. Article 43.09, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
2-9 amended by amending Subsections (a) and (l) to read as follows:
2-10 (a) When a defendant is convicted of a misdemeanor and his
2-11 punishment is assessed at a pecuniary fine or is confined in a jail
2-12 after conviction of a felony for which a fine is imposed, if he is
2-13 unable to pay the fine and costs adjudged against him, he may for
2-14 such time as will satisfy the judgment be put to work in the county
2-15 jail industries program, in the workhouse, or on the county farm,
2-16 or public improvements and maintenance projects of the county or a
2-17 political subdivision located in whole or in part in the county, as
2-18 provided in the succeeding Article; or if there be no such county
2-19 jail industries program, workhouse, farm, or improvements and
2-20 maintenance projects, he shall be imprisoned in jail for a
2-21 sufficient length of time to discharge the full amount of fine and
2-22 costs adjudged against him; rating such imprisonment at $50 for
2-23 each day and rating such labor at $50 for each day; provided,
2-24 however, that the defendant may pay the pecuniary fine assessed
2-25 against him at any time while he is serving at work in the county
2-26 jail industries program, in the workhouse, or on the county farm,
2-27 or on the public improvements and maintenance projects of the
2-28 county or a political subdivision located in whole or in part in
2-29 the county, or while he is serving his jail sentence, and in such
2-30 instances he shall be entitled to the credit he has earned under
2-31 this subsection during the time that he has served and he shall
2-32 only be required to pay his balance of the pecuniary fine assessed
2-33 against him. A defendant who performs labor under this article
2-34 during a day in which he is imprisoned is entitled to both the
2-35 credit for imprisonment and the credit for labor provided by this
2-36 article.
2-37 (l) A sheriff, employee of a sheriff's department, county
2-38 commissioner, county employee, county judge, an employee of a
2-39 community corrections and supervision department, restitution
2-40 center, or officer or employee of a political subdivision other
2-41 than a county is not liable for damages arising from an act or
2-42 failure to act in connection with manual labor performed by an
2-43 inmate pursuant to this article if the act or failure to act:
2-44 (1) was performed pursuant to confinement or other
2-45 court order; and
2-46 (2) was not intentional, wilfully or wantonly
2-47 negligent, or performed with conscious indifference or reckless
2-48 disregard for the safety of others.
2-49 SECTION 3. Article 43.10, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
2-50 amended to read as follows:
2-51 Art. 43.10. TO DO MANUAL LABOR. (a) Where the punishment
2-52 assessed in a conviction for misdemeanor is confinement in jail for
2-53 more than one day, or where in such conviction the punishment is
2-54 assessed only at a pecuniary fine and the party so convicted is
2-55 unable to pay the fine and costs adjudged against him, or where the
2-56 party convicted is required to serve a period of confinement as a
2-57 condition of probation, or where the party is sentenced to jail for
2-58 a felony or is confined in jail after conviction of a felony, the
2-59 party convicted or required to serve the period of confinement
2-60 shall be required to work in the county jail industries program or
2-61 shall be required to do manual labor in accordance with the
2-62 provisions of this Article under the following rules and
2-63 regulations:
2-64 1. Each commissioners court may provide for the
2-65 erection of a workhouse and the establishment of a county farm in
2-66 connection therewith for the purpose of utilizing the labor of said
2-67 parties so convicted or required to serve a period of confinement;
2-68 2. Such farms and workhouses shall be under the
2-69 control and management of the sheriff, and the sheriff may adopt
2-70 such rules and regulations not inconsistent with the rules and
3-1 regulations of the <Texas> Commission on Jail Standards and with
3-2 the laws as the sheriff deems necessary;
3-3 3. Such overseers and guards may be employed by the
3-4 sheriff under the authority of the commissioners court as may be
3-5 necessary to prevent escapes and to enforce such labor, and they
3-6 shall be paid out of the county treasury such compensation as the
3-7 commissioners court may prescribe;
3-8 4. They shall be put to labor upon public works and
3-9 maintenance projects, including public works and maintenance
3-10 projects for a political subdivision located in whole or in part in
3-11 the county;
3-12 5. One who from age, disease, or other physical or
3-13 mental disability is unable to do manual labor shall not be
3-14 required to work. His inability to do manual labor may be
3-15 determined by a physician appointed for that purpose by the county
3-16 judge or the commissioners court, who shall be paid for such
3-17 service such compensation as said court may allow; and
3-18 6. For each day of manual labor, in addition to any
3-19 other credits allowed by law, a prisoner is entitled to have one
3-20 day deducted from each sentence or period of confinement he is
3-21 serving. The deduction authorized by this article, when combined
3-22 with the deduction required by Article 42.10 of this code<, Code of
3-23 Criminal Procedure>, may not exceed two-thirds (2/3) of the
3-24 sentence or period of confinement.
3-25 (b) A sheriff, employee of a sheriff's department, county
3-26 commissioner, county employee, county judge, and employee of a
3-27 community corrections and supervision department, restitution
3-28 center, or officer or employee of a political subdivision other
3-29 than a county is not liable for damages arising from an act or
3-30 failure to act in connection with manual labor performed by an
3-31 inmate pursuant to this article if the act or failure to act:
3-32 (1) was performed pursuant to court-ordered
3-33 confinement <court order>; and
3-34 (2) was not intentional, wilfully or wantonly
3-35 negligent, or performed with conscious indifference or reckless
3-36 disregard for the safety of others.
3-37 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-38 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-39 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-40 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-41 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-42 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-43 passage, and it is so enacted.
3-44 * * * * *
3-45 Austin,
3-46 Texas
3-47 May 18, 1993
3-48 Hon. Bob Bullock
3-49 President of the Senate
3-50 Sir:
3-51 We, your Committee on Criminal Justice to which was referred H.B.
3-52 No. 1056, have had the same under consideration, and I am
3-53 instructed to report it back to the Senate with the recommendation
3-54 that it do pass and be printed.
3-55 Whitmire,
3-56 Chairman
3-57 * * * * *
3-58 WITNESSES
3-59 FOR AGAINST ON
3-60 ___________________________________________________________________
3-61 Name: Judge Bill Aleshire x
3-62 Representing: Travis County
3-63 City: Austin
3-64 -------------------------------------------------------------------
3-65 Name: Alvin Shaw x
3-66 Representing: Travis Co. Sheriff Dept
3-67 City: Austin
3-68 -------------------------------------------------------------------
3-69 Name: Andy Collins x
3-70 Representing: TDCJ ID
4-1 City: Huntsville
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